KR101659909B1 - Refrigerator having locking device for ice burcket and method for installation of locking device of ice burcket - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device and a method for manufacturing an ice bucket locking device. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device includes: a main body of the refrigerator; a storage chamber formed in the main body; an ice making chamber which is provided inside the main body to be separated from the storage chamber and has an open front side; the ice bucket which has an ice storage unit for storing ice generated by the ice making chamber and a cover member which is arranged in front of the ice storage chamber and covers the front side of the ice making chamber and is installed to be able to slide on the ice making chamber to open and close the ice making chamber; and the locking device which locks the ice bucket to the ice making chamber to prevent the ice bucket from being automatically withdrawn from the ice making chamber. The locking device includes: a snagging protrusion unit in the shape of a cylinder or a polygonal column which protrudes from an inner wall of the ice making chamber toward the ice bucket; and an elastic fixation unit which is arranged in at least one from an upper portion and a lower portion of the ice bucket and is formed in the size corresponding to the width of the snagging protrusion unit to be elastically fitted to the snagging protrusion unit. The present invention provides a refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device which enables a user to draw the ice bucket with one hand.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device and a method of installing the ice bucket locking device,

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device and a method of installing the ice bucket locking device.

A refrigerator is a device intended for low-temperature storage of food, and can be configured to refrigerate or store food according to the type of food to be stored.

The inside of the refrigerator is cooled by the continuously supplied cool air, and the cool air is continuously generated by the heat exchange function of the refrigerant by the refrigeration cycle through the process of compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation. The cold air supplied to the inside of the refrigerator is uniformly transferred to the inside of the refrigerator by the convection so that the food inside the refrigerator can be stored at a desired temperature.

Generally, the refrigerator body is in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having an open front, and a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment may be provided inside the refrigerator body. In addition, a refrigerator compartment door and a freezer compartment door may be provided on the front surface of the main body for selectively shielding the opening, and a plurality of drawers, a shelf and a storage compartment for storing various foods in an optimal state may be provided in the storage space inside the refrigerator. Box or the like may be provided.

Conventionally, a top mount type refrigerator in which a freezing compartment is located on the upper side and a refrigerating compartment is located on the lower side has been the mainstream. In recent years, however, a bottom freeze type refrigerator Is also being released. Here, in the case of the bottom freeze type refrigerator, a frequently used refrigerator room is located on the upper side, and a relatively less used freezer room is located on the lower side, so that the user can conveniently use the refrigerator room. However, since the bottom freeze-type refrigerator is located at the lower side of the refrigerator, it is inconvenient for the user to bend the waist to open the freezing chamber door and take out the ice to take out the ice.

In order to solve this problem, a refrigerator has been recently provided with a dispenser for taking out ice from the refrigerator compartment door located above the bottom freeze type refrigerator. In this case, an ice maker for generating ice may be provided in the refrigerator compartment door or the refrigerating compartment.

The ice maker includes an ice chamber provided with an ice tray for generating ice, an ice bucket for storing generated ice, ice delivered from the ice bucket to the dispenser, The transfer assembly.

The ice bucket may be slid through the open front of the ice making chamber to be drawn into the ice making chamber or out of the ice making chamber. Further, the refrigerator may be provided with a locking device for locking the ice bucket so that the ice bucket is not automatically pulled out of the ice making chamber.

 A conventional ice bucket locking device is provided with a locking protrusion which is fixed to one side of the ice making box, and the ice bucket is automatically pulled out of the ice making chamber through a mechanism in which the locking part hooked on the locking protrusion is locked or unlocked by the locking protrusion .

However, in the conventional ice bucket locking device as described above, since the user has to operate the open button, there is an inconvenience that both hands must be used, and since the spring and the open button must be separately installed, the structure is complicated, And the like.

In addition, the conventional ice bucket locking device is not fully supported when the ice bucket is closed in the ice making chamber, so that the ice bucket may be shaken and chattering due to the ice bucket may occur.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-81137 (published on July 16, 2013)

Embodiments of the present invention provide a refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device capable of increasing the usability of the ice bucket by allowing a user to take out the ice bucket with one hand and simplifying the structure to reduce material cost and improve durability, To provide a method of installing an ice bucket locking device.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides a refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device in which no flow occurs in all the directions of forward, backward, left, and right due to elastic support between the elastic fixing portion and the locking projection portion when the ice bucket is closed in the ice making chamber And an installation method of the ice bucket locking device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising: a main body of a refrigerator; A storage chamber formed inside the body; An ice making chamber provided inside the body to be partitioned from the storage chamber and having an open front; And a cover member disposed in front of the ice storage unit and covering the front of the ice-making chamber, wherein the ice-making unit is slidable in the ice-making chamber to open and close the ice- Ice bucket installed; And a locking device for locking the ice bucket to the ice making chamber so that the ice bucket is not automatically pulled out of the ice making chamber, A latching protrusion of a polygonal columnar shape; A refrigerator having an ice bucket locking device including an elastic fixing part disposed at least at an upper portion or a lower portion of the ice bucket and formed to have a size corresponding to a width of the width locking protrusion portion so as to be resiliently fitted to the locking protrusion, Can be provided.

The locking protrusion may be detachably coupled to the fixed body fixed to the inner wall of the ice making chamber.

The locking protrusion may include: a cylindrical portion fitted to the elastic fixing portion; And a flange portion formed at an end of the cylindrical portion and having a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion to prevent the cylindrical portion from being deviated in the height direction from the elastic fixing portion.

The elastic fixing portion may have a size corresponding to the width of the engaging projection so as to be in close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the engaging projection, and a portion of the elastic fixing portion, which is initially in contact with the engaging projection, A rim portion of the bobbin; And a plurality of rib portions extending from the rim portion toward the ice bucket and spaced apart at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the rim portion.

Further, on both sides of the opening portion in the rim portion, a guide portion having a structure that is extended outwardly toward the end so as to be easily inserted into the locking protrusion can be formed.

The ice bucket according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ice bucket is provided with a locking device at one of an upper portion and a lower portion of the ice bucket, and the other one of the ice buckets includes a first hook extending from the ice- A second hooking hook can be provided.

In addition, the locking device may be installed both above and below the ice bucket.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method including: forming a cylindrical or polygonal columnar locking protrusion having a predetermined diameter; Installing the locking protrusion on the inner wall of the ice making chamber of the refrigerator so as to protrude toward the ice bucket; And a step of forming a circular elastic fixing part, which is elastically fitted in the locking protrusion part, on at least one of the upper part and the lower part of the ice bucket, can be provided.

The locking protrusion may be formed to include a cylindrical portion fitted to the elastic fixing portion and a flange portion formed at an end of the cylindrical portion and having a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion.

The elastic fixing portion may have a size corresponding to the width of the engaging projection so as to be in close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the engaging projection, and a portion of the elastic fixing portion, which is initially in contact with the engaging projection, And a plurality of rib portions extending from the rim portion toward the ice bucket and spaced apart at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the rim portion.

In addition, the guide portion may be formed on both sides of the opening portion of the rim portion so as to extend outwardly toward the end so that the locking protrusion portion can be easily inserted.

Embodiments of the present invention enable a user to draw out an ice bucket with one hand, thereby improving ease of use of the ice bucket and simplifying the structure, thereby reducing material cost and improving durability.

In addition, since the ice bucket is closed in the ice making room, there is no flow in all directions of forward, backward, left, and right due to elastic support between the elastic fixing part and the locking part, so there is no flow noise of the ice bucket and the ice bucket can be stably supported have.

1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the refrigerator of Fig. 1,
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the ice bucket is drawn out from the ice making chamber of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;
4 is a view showing an ice bucket locking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a locking state of the ice bucket locking apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention,
6 and 7 are views showing an operating state of the ice bucket locking apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention,
8 is a view illustrating a state in which the ice bucket locking device according to the embodiment of the present invention is installed at either the upper portion or the lower portion of the ice bucket,
9 is a view showing a state in which an ice bucket locking device according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed on both upper and lower portions of an ice bucket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, configurations and operations according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The following description is one of many aspects of the claimed invention and the following description may form part of the detailed description of the invention.

However, the detailed description of known configurations or functions in describing the present invention may be omitted for clarity.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and its various embodiments, it is intended to illustrate the specific embodiments and the detailed description. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Terms including ordinals such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements are not limited by such terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one component from another.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It will be understood that the terms such as "comprises" or "having" in this application are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts or combinations thereof, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the refrigerator of FIG. 1.

1 and 2, a refrigerator 1 having a locking device 100 of an ice bucket 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 10, a storage room 20, an ice making chamber 30, An ice bucket 40 and a locking device 100. [

The meaning of one embodiment of the present invention is not limited to these configurations but includes these configurations basically, and may also include other configurations (for example, well-known technologies widely known in refrigerators) However, since the known technology may obscure the gist of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The main body 10 forms an overall appearance of the refrigerator 1 and can provide a space in which the above-described configuration and other structures necessary for the operation of the refrigerator 1 can be formed or installed.

The storage chamber 20 is formed inside the main body 10 and is opened so that the storage chamber 20 can be partitioned into a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber by a partition.

The opened front face of the storage chamber 20 can be opened and closed by a pair of doors 21 hinged to the main body 10 and rotated. The door 21 may be provided with a dispenser 50 capable of extracting ice generated in the ice making chamber 30 from the outside without opening the door 21.

The dispenser 50 includes an extraction space 51 for extracting ice, a lever 52 for selecting whether the ice is extracted or not, ice discharged from the ice discharge port 40a of the ice bucket 40, And a chute 53 for guiding the chute 53 into the extraction space 51.

In addition, the ice making room 30 (Ice Room) may be provided inside the main body 10 so as to be partitioned from the storage chamber 20. The ice making chamber 30 may be formed to be opened frontward. The ice making chamber 30 may be provided on one side of the storage chamber 20 and may be formed to be partitioned from the storage chamber 20 by an ice-making chamber wall.

The ice making chamber 30 may be provided with an ice making assembly for generating ice. Since the ice making assembly belongs to generally known matters, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The ice bucket 40 may be slidably installed in the ice making chamber 30 to open or close the ice making chamber 30. The ice bucket 40 includes an ice storage unit 41 for storing ice produced in the ice making chamber 30 and an ice storage unit 40 disposed in front of the ice storage unit 41, And a cover member 42 which is made of a metal.

The locking device 100 may lock the ice bucket 40 to the ice making chamber 30 so that the ice bucket 40 is not pulled out of the ice making chamber 30 by itself. When the ice bucket 40 is locked in the ice making chamber 30 by the locking device 100, the ice bucket 40 is not automatically pulled out of the ice making chamber 30, Can be maintained.

Hereinafter, the locking device 100 will be described in detail with reference to Figs. 3 to 7. Fig.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which an ice bucket is taken out from an ice making chamber of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a view showing an ice bucket locking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, 6 and 7 are views showing an operation state of an ice bucket locking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 to 5, the locking device 100 may include a locking protrusion 110 provided on an inner wall of the ice making chamber 30 and an elastic fixing part 120 formed on the ice bucket 40 have.

4 and 5, the latching protrusion 110 protrudes from the inner wall of the ice making chamber 30 toward the ice bucket 40, and may have a cylindrical or polygonal column shape. The fixing protrusion 110 may be provided directly on the inner wall of the ice-making chamber 30, but may be fixed to the inner wall of the ice-making chamber 30 through screws or bolts Can be removably coupled.

Specifically, for example, when the latching protrusion 110 is installed on the ceiling 30a of the ice making chamber 30, the latching protrusion 110 is positioned at a position where the latching protrusion 110 contacts the cover member 42 of the ice bucket 40 And can be disposed so as to protrude downward. When the latching protrusion 110 is installed on the bottom of the ice making chamber 30, the latching protrusion 110 is positioned at a position where the latching protrusion 110 contacts the cover member 42 or the ice reservoir 41 of the ice bucket 40 And can be disposed so as to protrude upward.

Here, the locking protrusion 110 may include a cylindrical portion 111 and a flange portion 112.

The cylindrical portion 111 may be formed in a cylindrical or polygonal columnar shape (for example, a polygonal shape with five or more angles) having a predetermined diameter to be fitted to the elastic fixing portion 120, An engaging hole 111a may be formed so as to be coupled to the fixing body 31. [

The flange portion 112 is formed at an end of the cylindrical portion 111 and has a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion 111. When the cylindrical portion 111 is fitted in the elastic fixing portion 120 And can be prevented from being deviated in the height direction.

4, the elastic fixing part 120 may be disposed on at least one of the upper portion and the lower portion of the ice bucket 40. The elastic fixing part 120 is formed to have a width corresponding to the width of the locking protrusion 110 (specifically, the cylindrical part 111) so as to be resiliently fitted in the locking protrusion 110 (specifically, the cylindrical part 111) . ≪ / RTI >

Here, the elastic fixing part 120 is resiliently fitted to the locking protrusion 110 by holding the elastic force by its own structure. After the elastic fixing part 120 is fitted to the locking protrusion 110, It is desirable to be designed to hold the flow. In order to achieve this object, the elastic fixing part 120 may include a rim portion 121 and a rib portion 122.

The rim portion 121 may have a size corresponding to the width of the locking protrusion 110 so as to be in close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the locking protrusion 110. When the rim 121 and the latching protrusion 110 are fitted to each other, a portion 121a of the rim 121 which is first brought into contact with the latching protrusion 110 is opened and the rest of the latching protrusion 110 is engaged with the latching protrusion 110, The rim portion 121 may have a circular structure in which a portion 121a is opened.

The rib portions 122 may extend from the rim portion 121 toward the ice bucket 40 by a predetermined length and may be spaced apart from each other at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the rim portion 121 .

The rim portion 121 has a structure in which both sides of the opening portion 121a are expanded outward toward the end so that the rim portion 121 can be easily inserted into the locking protrusion 110 (specifically, the cylindrical portion 111) The guide portion 121b may be formed.

Therefore, when the ice bucket 40 is pulled in to close the ice making chamber 30, the elastic fixing part 120 formed on the ice bucket 40 moves along the inserting direction of the ice bucket 40. 6, the rim portion 121 is brought into contact with the locking protrusion 110 when the elastic fixing portion 120 is moved. Since the guide portion 121b is formed on both sides of the opening portion 121a where the rim portion 121 is initially contacted, the locking protrusion 110 can be easily inserted into the rim portion 121 .

The opening portion 121a and the rib portion 122 of the rim portion 121 are temporarily elastically contracted when the locking projection 110 is inserted into the rim portion 121. As shown in Figure 7, When the base 110 is completely located inside the rim 121, it is restored to its original state.

When the rim portion 121 and the rib portion 122 are restored by the elastic force, the locking protrusion 110 is elastically supported by the outer circumferential surface of the locking protrusion 110 to elastically support the ice bucket 110 40) are not resiliently supported in all the directions of the front, rear, left, and right.

8, the locking device 100 is installed at one of the upper and lower portions of the ice bucket 40, and the ice making chamber 30 is provided at another position of the ice bucket 40, And a second hooking hook extending from the ice bucket 40 and hooked to the first hooking hook 11 may be provided.

8 shows a state in which the locking device 100 is installed on the upper part of the ice bucket 40 and the lower part of the ice bucket 40 in which the locking device 100 is not installed is provided with the first hook 11 and second The locking device 100 is installed at the lower portion of the ice bucket 40 and the locking device 100 is installed at the bottom of the ice bucket 40. [ The upper part of the ice bucket 40 may be locked with the ice making chamber 30 and the ice bucket 40 by the first and second hooking hooks 11 and 12.

9, the locking device 100 may be installed both above and below the ice bucket 40.

Hereinafter, an installation method of the ice bucket locking device according to another embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described, and the foregoing description can be referred to for a detailed description.

The ice bucket 40 can be formed by first forming a locking protrusion 110 of a cylindrical or polygonal column shape having a predetermined diameter for installing the locking device 100. [ The locking protrusion 110 has a cylindrical portion 111 fitted to the elastic fixing portion 120 and a flange portion formed at an end of the cylindrical portion 111 and having a diameter larger than that of the cylindrical portion 111 112).

When the locking protrusion 110 is formed, the locking protrusion 110 can be installed on the inner wall of the ice making chamber 30 of the refrigerator. At this time, the locking protrusion 110 may protrude toward the ice bucket 40.

A circular elastic fixing portion 120 may be formed on at least one of the upper portion and the lower portion of the ice bucket 40 so as to be elastically fitted to the locking protrusion 110.

The elastic fixing part 120 has a size corresponding to the width of the locking protrusion 110 so as to be in close contact with the locking protrusion 110. A portion of the elastic fixing part 120 which is initially in contact with the locking protrusion 110 is opened, A circular rim portion 121 having a structure to enclose the latching protrusion 110 and a protrusion 121 extending from the rim portion 121 toward the ice bucket 40 and spaced apart at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the rim portion 121, And may include a plurality of rib portions 122 to be disposed.

The guide portion 121b may be formed on both sides of the opening portion of the rim portion 121 so as to extend outwardly toward the end so that the locking protrusion 110 can be easily inserted.

The installation of the locking device 100 of the ice bucket 40 can be terminated by such a series of steps.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto.

1: Refrigerator 10: Body
11: first hooking hook 12: second hooking hook
20: storage room 30: ice making room
40: ice bucket 41: ice storage part
42: cover member 50: dispenser
100: locking device 110:
111: cylinder part 112: flange part
120: elastic fixing part 121: rim portion
121a: opening portion of the rim portion 121b: guide portion
122: rib portion

Claims (11)

The body of the refrigerator;
A storage chamber formed inside the body;
An ice making chamber provided inside the body to be partitioned from the storage chamber and having an open front;
And a cover member disposed in front of the ice storage unit and covering the front of the ice-making chamber, wherein the ice-making unit is slidable in the ice-making chamber to open and close the ice- Ice bucket installed; And
And a locking device for locking the ice bucket to the ice making chamber so that the ice bucket is not automatically pulled out of the ice making chamber,
The locking device includes:
A locking protruding portion of a cylindrical or polygonal column shape projecting from the inner wall of the ice making chamber toward the ice bucket; And
And an elastic fixing part disposed at least at one of an upper portion and a lower portion of the ice bucket and formed to have a size corresponding to a width of the locking protrusion so as to be resiliently fitted to the locking protrusion,
The elastic fixing portion may be formed to be able to hold a flow in all directions from front to back, left to right,
A rim portion having a size corresponding to the width of the engaging projection so as to come into close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the engaging projection and having a structure in which a portion to be first contacted with the engaging projection is opened and the remaining portion surrounds the engaging projection, ;
And a plurality of rib portions extending from the rim portion toward the ice bucket and spaced apart at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the rim portion. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the catching protrusion portion is detachably coupled to the fixed body fixed to the inner wall of the ice making chamber. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
A cylindrical portion fitted to the elastic fixing portion;
And a flange portion formed at an end of the cylindrical portion and having a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion to prevent the cylindrical portion from being detached in the height direction from the elastic fixing portion. delete The method according to claim 1,
And a guide portion having a structure that is extended outwardly toward the end so as to be easily inserted into the locking protrusion portion is formed on both sides of the opening portion in the rim portion. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the ice bucket is provided with the locking device in any one of an upper portion and a lower portion thereof,
Wherein the ice bucket is provided with a first latching hook extending from the ice making chamber and a second latching hook extending from the ice bucket and engaged with the first latching hook. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the locking device is installed at both the top and bottom of the ice bucket. Forming a cylindrical or polygonal columnar locking protrusion having a predetermined diameter;
Installing the locking protrusion on the inner wall of the ice making chamber of the refrigerator so as to protrude toward the ice bucket; And
And forming an elastic fixing part that is resiliently fitted to the locking protrusion part at least one of an upper portion and a lower portion of the ice bucket,
So that the elastic fixing part can catch the flow in all directions from the front, back, left,
Wherein the elastic fixing portion comprises:
A rim portion having a size corresponding to the width of the engaging projection so as to come into close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the engaging projection and having a structure in which a portion to be first contacted with the engaging projection is opened and the remaining portion surrounds the engaging projection, Wow,
And a plurality of rib portions extending from the rim portion toward the ice bucket and spaced apart at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of the rim portion. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the engaging protrusion portion is formed to include a cylindrical portion fitted to the elastic fixing portion and a flange portion formed at an end of the cylindrical portion and having a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion. delete 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the guide portion is formed on both sides of the opening portion in the rim portion so as to be extended outwardly toward the end so that the locking protrusion portion can be easily inserted.

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